There were many players in the Leicester Tigers camp last week who were saying that their European double-header with Munster would be a true test of where the squad is after three-and-a-half months of Matt O’Connor reign this season.

So, after a hammering in Ireland and a narrow defeat at Welford Road, what has that shown about the current state of the Leicester Tigers squad?

1) Tigers need a forwards coach with plenty of experience.

Leicester’s top brass know this and have been looking around for the right person to do the job for a while now.

Boris Stankovich coaches the front row and Brett Deacon seriously knows his stuff as senior development coach but Tigers need still someone with years of experience in the role to come in and take on the job vacated by Richard Cockerill last season.

I understand Ireland and British & Irish Lions legend Paul O’Connell was one of the people on the club’s list and that he was considering the move. But the announcement that the big lock has joined Ireland’s Under-20s coaching staff this week, means that Tigers will have to chase other lines of enquiry.

2) Tigers need some much overdue luck in the centres.

Rugby is a fiercely physical contact sport and injuries will happen. But Tigers’ luck in the No.12 and 13 shirt over the past few years has been ridiculously bad. The medical treatment room has been a revolving door to anyone who plays in green shirts with those numbers on them.

Fans will never truly know how good Leicester can be unless messers Tuilagi and Toomua play together for a decent amount of time.

3) The second row and back row lack continuity

There are arguments in today’s injury-ravaged game to have two players for every position but Leicester’s back five is very much inter-changable and it is very hard to pick a best 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 at the minute.

As a result, there is little continuity. The best front row picks itself but there is still some recruitment to go in the second and back row if Tigers are going to build a world class pack that can put the fear of God into other front eights around Europe.

I understand the club are keen to speak to Worcester’s giant lock Will Spencer in the New Year – and that would be a great start for Leicester if he fails to seal a new deal at Sixways.

4) The players are tighter and good foundations are in place.

One player told me earlier this year: “Last season, I didn’t know which Tigers team was going to turn up. This season, we do.”

It seems the group feel more comfortable and better-led this term and know what they are trying to be and how they are trying to play. There may be some way to go – but at least the foundations are in the right place.

To a man, you will also do well to find anyone in the squad who doesn’t think that George Ford’s return to the club isn’t a good thing for its future.

5) Rome wasn’t built in a day.

For whatever reason – and there are various trains of thought – Tigers were in such a bad state on and off the field when Matt O’Connor was brought in last March that I thought it would take at least a good 12 months to make decent inroads into the rebuilding process.

With that in mind, it would probably be more prudent to test the success of that rebuild at the end of this season – not midway through it.

It’s also unlikely that O’Connor has finished the clear-out that saw the likes of JP Pietersen and Peter Betham jettisoned from the club mid-contract last season. He is a man who very much knows what he wants from his squad.